Dean Thomas (born 19 December 1961) is a Welsh former
football player and manager. Thomas managed
Hinckley United throughout almost the entirety of their fifteen year history and also managed
Kettering Town
Kettering Town Football Club is a football club based in Burton Latimer, Northamptonshire, England. They are currently members of and play at Latimer Park in Burton Latimer. Kettering were the first club to wear sponsorship on their shirts in ...
.
Playing career
Thomas was a professional footballer with
Wimbledon
Wimbledon most often refers to:
* Wimbledon, London, a district of southwest London
* Wimbledon Championships, the oldest tennis tournament in the world and one of the four Grand Slam championships
Wimbledon may also refer to:
Places London
* ...
,
Tampereen Ilves
Ilves (; Finnish for " Lynx") is a Finnish professional ice hockey team based in Tampere. They play in the Liiga at the Tampere Deck Arena.
The colors of Ilves, green, yellow, and black, were taken from what was then the coat of arms of the cit ...
,
Alemannia Aachen,
Fortuna Düsseldorf
Düsseldorfer Turn- und Sportverein Fortuna 1895 e.V., commonly known as Fortuna Düsseldorf (), is a German football club in Düsseldorf, North Rhine-Westphalia, which competes in the 2. Bundesliga.
Founded in 1895, Fortuna entered the league ...
,
Northampton Town
Northampton Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in the town of Northampton, England. The team plays in , the fourth tier of the English football league system.
Founded in 1897, the club competed in the Midland ...
and
Notts County
Notts County Football Club is a professional association football club based in Nottingham, England. The team participate in the National League, the fifth tier of the English football league system. Founded on the 25 November 1862, it is the ...
. During his second loan spell with Ilves, Thomas won the
Finnish championship
Finnish may refer to:
* Something or someone from, or related to Finland
* Culture of Finland
* Finnish people or Finns, the primary ethnic group in Finland
* Finnish language, the national language of the Finnish people
* Finnish cuisine
See also ...
in 1983. While at Notts County, he was club captain and played twice at
Wembley Stadium
Wembley Stadium (branded as Wembley Stadium connected by EE for sponsorship reasons) is a football stadium in Wembley, London. It opened in 2007 on the site of the original Wembley Stadium, which was demolished from 2002 to 2003. The stadium ...
.
Managerial career
His first managerial post was with
Bedworth United, his hometown club. In 1997, he became newly formed
Hinckley United's first manager. He led the club to the
Southern Football League Western Division championship in the 2000–01 season and the
FA Cup
The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual knockout football competition in men's domestic English football. First played during the 1871–72 season, it is the oldest national football competi ...
second round in December 2001 and December 2004.
Thomas resigned as manager on 10 October 2012. In his 15 years with the club, he managed the club in 972 games.
Thomas took over as manager of
Kettering Town
Kettering Town Football Club is a football club based in Burton Latimer, Northamptonshire, England. They are currently members of and play at Latimer Park in Burton Latimer. Kettering were the first club to wear sponsorship on their shirts in ...
of the Southern League Division One Central at the beginning of the 2013–14 season. He lost most of his first games, but eventually pulled together results, going 21 games unbeaten. The Poppies finished in 3rd place, thus qualifying for the play-offs. They beat
Daventry Town
Daventry Town F.C. is a football club based in the town of Daventry, Northamptonshire, England, formed in 1886. They are members of the .
History
The club was established in 1886 as a local-town club playing in the Northampton Town League. T ...
1–0 in the semi-final and progressed to the play-off final against
Slough Town
Slough Town Football Club is a semi-professional English football club based in Slough, Berkshire. Nicknamed "The Rebels", the team competes in the National League South, at the sixth tier of English football, following promotion from the Sou ...
in the final. Kettering took a two-goal lead in the final but ultimately lost 3–2.
In May 2014, Thomas announced that he was stepping down as Kettering Town FC manager.
Personal life
Since his absence from the football pitch, Thomas now sings covers of swing songs at local entertainment venues.
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Thomas, Dean
1961 births
Living people
People from Bedworth
Welsh men's footballers
Welsh expatriate men's footballers
Expatriate men's footballers in Finland
Expatriate men's footballers in West Germany
Men's association football forwards
Wimbledon F.C. players
Ilves (football) players
Fortuna Düsseldorf players
Northampton Town F.C. players
Notts County F.C. players
Bedworth United F.C. players
Hinckley United F.C. players
English Football League players
Bundesliga players
Welsh football managers
Bedworth United F.C. managers
Hinckley United F.C. managers
National League (English football) managers
Kettering Town F.C. managers
Welsh expatriate sportspeople in West Germany
Welsh expatriate sportspeople in Finland
2. Bundesliga players